Falling
by SemperFi.ca
Summary: "Are you in love with your partner?" What would happen if Deeks somehow had find out about Astrid's question for Kensi. Picking up after episode 3, season 4.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note:

NCIS LA is still not mine nor are the characters or parts of the dialog … I am simply borrowing them again for some fun.

* * *

Holding the paper cup of one of his beloved coffee shops in his right hand Deeks took another delightful gulp of a super hot soy latte. He savored the taste for one moment before he opened the door to the building with the distinctive historical Spanish architecture.

He was late as usual and not because he slept through his alarm clock like everyone always presumed but because he had caught some amazing waves this morning and couldn't really make himself leave the beach in time. The reason for that was a rather restless night which had been induced by something Hetty had told him only hours before.

Now though after the better part of the morning spend in water most people would call freezing and with his hair still slightly damp he felt awake enough to actually tackle this brand new day.

He was in a good mood, had ever been since his first ride of the day and like this the witty excuse for being late was already on the tip of his tongue when he turned around the last corner to their plan open workspace. Halting his long strides immediately he tilted his head in a querying gesture when he found no one to be present. Walking over to his desk he put his bag down and took a look around.

The place next to his was as neatly organized as ever with Sam being a Navy Seal and even Callen's desk was cleared off of all the finished reports which had been piling up over the last few weeks. Still the tidiness couldn't hide the fact that his teammates had already arrived and were probably working out in the gym.

Even though Kensi's desk was a mess as usual Deeks could also detect the subtle signs of her having arrived only a few minutes prior since her hastily forgotten coffee was steaming away softly and the half eaten donut was still leaking jelly on the napkin it was resting on.

Deciding to better dodge another Saya training session with Sam Deeks took his cheerfulness along with the soy latte up, two steps at the time, to the second floor. Maybe Eric and Nell were up to something fun.

Making his way through the automatic door though the only one he could see was Eric. He was sitting in front of his computer, earphones in place and snickering away quietly. Taping his shoulder Eric nearly jumped out of his skin which was just another slight hint that whatever he was doing wasn't supposed to be witnessed openly.

"What are you up to?" asked Deeks in his best surfer drawl since he was talking to a kindred spirit.

"Oh hi Deeks, you nearly gave me a heart attack …" Eric breathed out in relieve and took a fast glance around making sure they were still on their own "… here you got to check this out." And with that said he widened the video stream he had been watching and offered one of his earphones to Deeks.

All he could hear was Hettie's voice talking in a bunch of different languages most of which he had no idea about. From the sound of her voice and the way her shoulders had tensed up she seemed slightly annoyed by something.

"That was German … Hetty is swearing in German … so cool." Eric marveled and slowly Deeks began to understand why Hetty was this upset.

He had received a text message from Kensi last night indicating that she was in the boatshed with Astrid playing poker when he had asked her if he could come over with beer and burgers. So obviously the video was from last night and at some point Hetty had joined the dynamic duo. Kensi had asked him too whether he wanted to participate and bring the offered beverage and food around but he had decided to give the girls some space for their night out and simply took Monty for a long stroll down to the beach.

"Hetty is losing?" Deeks questioned the obvious and Eric only chuckled with his reply "Yap … and big time."

"Where did you get this from?" asked Deeks after he took another long gulp of his coffee while placing his empty hand in the back pocket of his jeans in his usual fashion.

"Oh someone must have left the camera on last time and so it recorded the last two days. This morning I thought it was something important, looked through it and found this." explained Eric and snickered again when Hetty used her famous gorgon stare on Astrid during the next round only to end up losing like the last 10 times before.

"Here best scene is this … I mean so far I still haven't watched everything." Eric scrolled through the video and found the point he had been looking for.

"Watch how Hetty's face shows no emotion at all." Eric alluded and tapped the screen in front of him.

"Well it never really does, does it?" Deeks asked doubtingly and concentrated on Hetty's features. Not one flinch not even a blink, sometimes this woman was simply too scary. Well who was he kidding she was too scary all the time. He watched as Astrid put down half of her hand, took new cards and arranged them carefully in her hand. Kensi put her own cards down shaking her head and looking to Hetty who refused to get rid of any card in her hand. Raising the stake she waited on Astrid who called her instantaneously.

There it was, a little smirk on Hetty's lips hardly noticeable but very confident of success. Putting her cards down it was a little hard to tell what was on her hand but Deeks figured it must have been four aces since he had seen two and the astonished look by Kensi seemed to confirm his suspicion. But Hetty hadn't even had the chance to enjoy the moment when Astrid put her cards down and immediately reached her hands out to collect the various colorful chips on the table. Since neither Deeks nor Eric could make out the cards Astrid had put down they had to guess between the two options that were possible. Astrid either had a straight flush or a royal flush and that with laying down most of her hand before was really impressive.

"Well done." Deeks admitted and couldn't really stop the lopsided grin which had appeared on his lips. Though he hardly knew Astrid he couldn't help but feeling fond of her. Maybe that had something to do with what Hetty had told him earlier last day.

Before Eric could move to another part of the video Hettie's voice echoed through the room threateningly and both cringed at once. Quickly Eric pushed two buttons and the screen in front of them turned pitch black.

"Mr. Beal I am in need for your technical knowledge. My computer seems a little out of tune!" and with that she turned on her heels and exited OSP as quietly as she had entered it. If anyone was a mutant ninja assassin in their team it certainly had to be Hetty.

"Urgh she probably can't watch her beloved cat videos again I better check it out … oh you need to watch minute 12.35 it's hilarious." whispered Eric on his way over to the stairs.

So Deeks sat down rebooted the screen and went looking for the timestamp of the video. Scrolling through the video he leaned back in Eric's chair and began to rock back and forwards. It was kind of a nervous habit of his since his early childhood. And while Kensi used to mock him about it over a zillion times, Sam had schooled him about the danger and sounded like he had used the exact same speech on his daughter not too long ago.

While he was looking for the moment Eric had been talking about he never noticed Nell entering the room and when she made her present noticed with a cheerful 'Good morning' it startled him so much that he lost his balance and tumbled over along with the chair he was sitting in.

The impact on the back of his head was hard and immediately a soft buzz deafened his surroundings. Muffled he could make out the worried screech of Nell who rushed to his side. His limbs were in a tangled mess above him and his eyes fall shut for a second.

_Are you in love with your partner?_

Shocked his eyelids jumped open. What did he just hear?

"Deeks are you ok?" asked Nell worried and helped Deeks to untangle his arms and legs from their uncomfortable position. But he didn't answer her straight away.

Maybe he had still some seawater in his ears, he reasoned with himself remembering one of the bigger waves which had wiped him out that morning. Because what he had just heard could not have been …

_How old are you again?_

Confused Deeks looked up. There was still a voice inside of his head talking and it strangely sounded like Kensi while he saw the blurry image of Nell's lips moving in front of him.

Certain that he was finally beginning to go loopy it took a while for his brain to connect the dots to something that actually made sense. Not until he reached his hand to the back of his head checking for the already forming bump there and getting caught up in the cable of the earphone which he was still wearing things started to fall into place.

Struggling to get up he felt how Nell steadied him by the elbow and helped him sit down again. "You sure you are fine?" Nell asked again since she wasn't really too convinced by the first rushed nod he had given her.

"Yes Nell, just a demolished pride and a tiny bruise at the back of the head." Deeks reassured and smiled easily in an attempt to get her to resume doing whatever she had been doing before he had lost balance and tumbled over. He really needed to see what he had just heard.

So after the coast was somewhat clearer he scrolled through the video and found what he was looking for. Resetting the volume and getting one of the earphones back in place he began to listen in on the conversation:

"Give me two please." Deeks was able to pick up and watched as Astrid pushed two cards over to Kensi. Adding a few chips to the pile in the middle of the table the emerging silence between the two felt somewhat uncomfortable even to a simple bystander.

"Just tell me about your mum." Kensi tried to break the ice and before she actually could even finish her sentence Astrid had already answered: "She is dead!"

Nodding her head understandingly Kensi pursued a little further: "Yeah I know. What was she like though?"

Another loaded moment of pure silence followed and so Kensi gave in trying another kind of approach: "Ok, last start with me." She said and pushed her cards to one pile in her hand. Since she had never really bothered to organize them in the first place it didn't really made too much of a difference.

Looking up at Astrid who was still occupied arranging the chips perfectly she offered: "You can ask me anything you like."

And again without even a second thought Astrid fired her question away: "Are you in love with your partner?"

So his buzzed brain hadn't made up anything. Astrid indeed had asked Kensi and he was very anxious for her reaction. But with the angle of the camera it was kind of difficult to estimate. For a moment he ignored how his heart rate had picked up and brushed it of as a side effect of his fall as well as the slight dull pain that took over from the base of his head.

Her facial muscles appeared tight, her left eyebrow was slightly raised and she seemed to be holding her breath. All those were signs of surprise which actually wasn't too surprising at all since she would have never expected such a delicate question by the seemingly shy girl in front of her.

Deeks didn't miss Astrid's motivation behind the question. After the doctor had diagnosed her with Asperger syndrome Deeks had took the opportunity to look for more information online and understand the causal coherences.

Most people wouldn't have approached such a private matter as openly as Astrid just had. But her capability to understand nonverbal signs and signals as well as her paralanguage was different from most people. Maybe in a way it was her way to test how reliable Kensi really was since she thought she knew the answer to the question she had just asked.

Deeks didn't miss the moment when Kensi decided upon a diversionary tactic, looking down and gathering her thoughts trying to wiggle out of the rather uncomfortable situation: "How old are you?"

Again without even blinking for a second Astrid jumped to answer her: "18 years, 3 months, 12 days, 6 hours and 32 seconds … 33, … 34, …35." with the last numbers her voiced got quieter and quieter showing a slight degree of embarrassment. The rest of the conversation Deeks witnessed was mostly about Astrid's dad Mike and the confusion around him. Even though this was quite interesting and to see Hetty lose her first hand only moments later was really entertaining Deeks was intrigued by something totally different and didn't pay too much attention.

Scrolling back to the moment he was looking for he froze the screen when he found it and scrambled together all the knowledge he had ever been taught on facial impressions and interrogation interpretation.

Beside the surprise that was still very obvious he couldn't really make out much more. No shock which he had slightly expected, no hastily voiced denial which he had totally expected and no snort like laugh of sarcasm which also would have been very likely. Nothing. Well that was not quite right, there certainly was something in her features but he couldn't put his finger on it, yet.

Staring at the screen for a moment a total different question came to his mind. What did he actually want to see on her features? Affirmation? Hesitation? Denial? He had no clue.

Affirmation would have been simple, wouldn't it? But nothing about them had ever been simple so affirmation wasn't anything he was looking for. Hesitation would have been nice since it would have shown a certain amount of uncertainty about a certain topic. Confusing yes but intriguing oh so much more, however not on her features in that moment. So that left denial and denial would have been great because it kept things simply straight, not simply simple since again they never were simple in the first place but straight. And a few years back there would have been denial and a whole lot of it on her face and in her body language but things had changed, things in general, but more importantly things between them. They had simply changed.

So now what? He was none the wiser from when he had started his little detecting scheme. He used to be so much better than this, at this, but he was also aware, by experience, that with a raising level of personal involvement his assessment skills lacked profoundly.

Somewhat unsatisfied but still glad that this little piece of information hadn't slipped by without his notice he closed the video and stood up on still slightly wobbling knees.

Countering Nell's worried features with one of his lopsided grins and grabbing his coffee on the way out he walked through the doors of OSP and down the stairs to his very own desk. The others were still nowhere to be found and so he decided upon starting his reports for LAPD early since he didn't want them to pile up again at the end of the week.

Halfway through his second report Kensi appeared from the general direction of the gym trying to tie her still wet hair in a somewhat organized ponytail. Giving up on it she plunked herself down in the chair behind her desk rather unceremoniously and went searching for her half eaten donut. Finding it she took a huge bite and groaned contentedly when the sweet treat hit her taste buds.

Deeks was enjoying the show as usual behind half closed eyes and still seemingly engrossed in his work. He also appreciated her momentary style since her shirt was clinging to her damp looking skin and he could actually make out a few droplets of water which were running down the side of her neck. Arguing that it took too much of her precious time she never got into any too deep involvement with her towel after a quick shower at work and the motivation for this today was patently obvious when he watched her taking another heartfelt bite of her donut.

"Hey Deeks!" she munched happily and leaned back in her chair.

Playing it smoothly down Deeks looked up surprised like he hadn't noticed her coming in, in the first place. "Hey Kens. Where are the others?" he asked absently and began to type another sentence.

"They are going to get some lunch for everyone." Kensi explained and tried to make some room on her desk so she could actually get her own computer set up.

That piece of information let Deeks pause in his typing and made him look up. "So you are having dessert before lunch?" he asked mischievously folding his hands and resting his chin upon them.

"No." Kensi's tone made his suggestion sound silly and she smiled triumphantly before answering. "I am having an aperitif since Sam and Callen are going to bring some dessert along."

"Isn't an aperitif by definition something liquidly? This looks more like a canapé." Deeks mocked her gently but only received a look of inquiry.

"Why can't it be an aperitif? By definition the purpose of an aperitif is to stimulate the appétit and prepare the body for the imminent meal which this surely is." Kensi explained enthusiastically and held up the last piece of her donut to prove her point before it disappeared behind her lips. Speaking with her mouth still full the next few words were kind of hard to make out.

"Furthermore, it even serves its second purpose which is to socialize and shorten the wait for said meal to begin, in our case to actually arrive or be delivered."

"Still it's not very liquidly." interposed Deeks precociously and turned his attention back to the screen in front of him.

"The jelly was." Kensi grinned and watched as Deeks shook his head in a good-natured way.

It was that moment when they heard Nell's voice from the balcony above. "Hey guys Eric and I are going for lunch today. What would you like to eat?" Looking up they saw the pair standing close to each other waiting upon their order.

"Oh Sam and Callen are already on their way they are bringing shrimp curry for all." Kensi answered and excitedly added: " … and dessert."

"Ice cream?" Nell answered in a similar excited way and got another cheerful retort. "I sure hope so."

"Hey Deeks how's your head?" inquired Nell next and Deeks seemed to sink a little bit deeper into his chair while Eric turned curiously towards Nell.

"My head is fine!" Deeks tried to answer but at the same time Kensi voice interfered … "What happened to your head?"

"Nothing happened to my head!" Deeks answered quickly still sinking deeper actually by now leaving the impression that he was slightly ducking behind his computer. His answer was way too quick to be convincing and Nell only confirmed Kensi's scepsis.

"Deeks had a little accident this morning … " but before Nell could say anything further Deeks interrupted her. "I had a little disagreement with Eric's chair. Nothing big."

"My chair?" Eric asked confused and listened to Nell's explanation.

"He hit his head pretty bad when he tumbled backwards and seemed kinda out of it for a moment if you ask me." Nell said only to have Deeks roll his eyes. He was very aware of what would follow after as soon as Nell and Eric would turn around and go back to do whatever they were doing at the moment.

"He was, was he now?" Kensi smirked in his direction and got up while receiving another confirmation by Nell. "I hope it doesn't hurt too bad?" Nell asked but never heard the quietly hissed "I am fine." by Deeks who looked like he was dying out of embarrassment.

"Deeks you found any other interesting parts in the video?" Eric asked only to see a bewildered glance upwards by Kensi: "What video?" she asked and looked down to Deeks who seemed back engrossed in his report.

Eric checked whether he could make out Hetty anywhere close by but the older lady was nowhere to be seen. "I found some video feed of last night … in the boatshed." Eric answered carefully. Just because you couldn't see Hetty didn't mean she wasn't around listening in on them.

"Yes Kensi did anything interesting happen last night?" asked Deeks casually but stressing the ending vowel of her name suspiciously while glancing up under his eyelashes to not miss her reaction.

"No why?" her answer was quick and steady and he would have missed the subtle signs if he hadn't known what he needed to look for.

The tiny raise of her left eyebrow, the sharp but hardly noticeable intake of breath or the slight tremble in her stance. But while Deeks was busy taking in all of those little signs of her obvious lie he missed the slow change on her features. So when he looked up again and their eyes met there was only one thing on his mind:

_Oh oh._

"No I haven't Eric." Deeks was quick to answer when he saw Kensi approach closer and rolled his chair back a bit in a certain attempt of a careful retreat.

"Well too bad." With that Eric and Nell turned around and went back to their computers.

Deeks however wasn't as lucky to resume to his work as easily and unharmed. Before he could retreat any further on his chair Kensi came around his desk and firmly took hold of the back of his chair. With her being way stronger than what she looked like there was no way he was going to get out of this one.

_Not good. Only witnesses have left the room._

"So you wanna tell me why you tumbled over with Eric's chair while watching a video from last night's poker game?" she silently hissed right beside his ear.

"Who said I was watching the video then?" Deeks answered quietly and it sounded even to him anything but persuasive. Still he gently rolled back to his desk again and resumed typing his report.

"Oh … " Kensi played along and quickly pushed the tip of her right pointer finger to the base of his head. Ignoring the smooth texture of his hair for the moment since it was nothing but distracting she enjoyed his girlish screech while she asked … "Is that where you hit your head?" Dipping his head forward he tried to dodge her second attempt of inflicting severe pain in him.

"Yes!" he admitted and slapped her hand away gently before she could make contact again. Smirking he turned around: "You know if you are that fascinated by the smoothness of my beautiful flowing locks I will come to your place after work and you can run your finger through them all night long." He was teasing her but mostly trying to throw her off her game.

"Yeah right!" Kensi snorted and turned around walking back to her desk.

_Mission_ _accomplished._

"How come you knew where the bump was anyway?" Deeks asked not in the slightest bothering to smooth down the mess of his hair but trying to get the footing back on safer territory. His effort in steering the conversation away from the video they had been talking about only moments before seemed to work out.

"I don't know you hair looked different." Kensi shrugged and sat back in her own chair, not missing the smug impression on his face.

"You sure you don't want to take me up on my offer? Because it seems like you have given this awesome curls some very serious and deep thoughts. Studying them closely often?"

"You know what why don't you come over tonight and I'll tell you … " Kensi's expression turned serious and maybe even a tiny bit flirtatious. So for the second time of this day Deeks doubted his ability to hear properly.

"Seriously?" he inquired hopefully and his eyes were wide open.

"Yeah … right after you have told me the reason of your little accident with Eric's chair." Kensi smirked in the sure conviction of having won the little bickering game between the two of them this time.

Meanwhile Hetty had mysteriously reappeared behind her desk and while there was a video playing in the background of a cute fluffy cat staring down a tremendously huge Great Dane till he turned around hiding with his tail tucked between his legs the cursor of the mouse slid the icon of an unlabeled video to the waste basket where it disappeared and was nowhere to be found ever again.


	2. Chapter 2

Standing in front of her door packed with a six-pack of beers, takeout food from her favorite Mexican restaurant and two milkshakes he contemplated what to do. Her offer had probably only been a joke. Something she was certain he would never do and something he had actually been sure of never doing. And still here he was standing in front of her door carefully balancing each item he had brought in his arms and nervously glancing down at his loyal companion right next to him.

"Bud you sure about this?" he whispered and his voice carried a slight undertone of self doubt. Monty whined scarcely audible and turned his head in the most adoringly gesture.

"Yah me neither. Anywhere here we go keep your doggy paws crossed." With that said he kicked the door carefully with his right foot since his arms were momentarily out of order caring their food and beverage. He waited anxiously and felt how every muscle inside of him began to tighten up. It took a few moments before he saw slender fingers tucking away the curtain of her door and Kensi's face appearing behind the glass. He couldn't really read the expression on her face at the moment but she obviously hadn't expected to see him tonight. Already dressed in one of her dad's old Marines shirt and barley there shorts she looked like she was ready to turn in early this night.

Twisting the door knob Deeks didn't even let her ask what he was doing here: "I know what Astrid asked you …" nervously he shifted his weight back and forth and watched when Kensi crossed her arms in front of her chest in an expectant manner.

"… when I fell this morning, I heard what she … you know … what she said, wanted to know, well asked really." Deeks began to babble uncontrollably before he took a short break to breath.

"… wow. Well anyway I'd like to take you up on your offer. Actually we would like to!" and with that announced he looked down to Monty who choose that exact moment to repeat his adorable sideway nod. Kensi couldn't stop the snort like laugh that escaped her lips and only then caught up on what Monty was carefully carrying between his teeth.

"Is this for me?" she asked gently and crouched down before taking the single flower from his muzzle. Looking up to Deeks she noticed how the dim lights of her living room sparkled in the depths of his oceanic eyes and only added to the natural twinkle when he answered on his dog's behalf.

"Yap he insisted on it."

"Well then thank you Monty that is very kind of you!" slightly Kensi leaned forward and placed a brief kiss on the top of Monty's head.

"Come on in!" she mentioned to the two when she rose back up and before she had a chance to get her full height steadied Monty had trotted inside and made himself comfortable on her couch.

"So he brings you one flower and gets a kiss? I brought you alcohol, food and sugar!" Deeks claimed hopefully with wide open eyes. Kensi took one slight sniff to the white flower she held in her hand and enjoyed the distant sweet smell. Taking the two milkshakes before he would spill them she punched him hard right under his left collarbone.

"Ahhh really?!" Deeks whined and only caught a glimpse of her cheeky smile when she turned around saying: "Take it as a friendly pat on the shoulder for bringing drinks and food."

Closing the door on the way in, he grunted: "And sugar! And for the record that was not my shoulder or felt any friendly."

"Big baby." Kensi whispered under her breath while placing the milkshakes on her coffee table and retreating to her kitchen to find them some plates as well as cutlery and a glass for Montie's gift.

When she came back Deeks had made himself comfortable right next to Monty who attached the better part of her small couch as his property leaving a comfy looking space next to the arm rest on the other side. Sitting down she put the plates down in front of her on top of the books she had stacked on her coffee table.

Deeks opened two of the beer bottles and offered her one before digging into the plastic bag of takeout food putting the different paper wrapped packages on her plates.

"Burrito's con Verduras, well actually with pretty much everything they got and those are your beloved Quesadilla's con Carne extra spicy." Deeks explained and began to unwrap his burrito.

"Mhh yummy." was her only response before she basically started to inhale the delicious meal he had brought her.

A while later, with their main course finished and alternating sips of beer and milkshakes they were engrossed in one of her reality TV shows. Well actually she was while Deeks kept stealing short glimpses in her direction.

He had a question on his mind for the greater part of the day and still tried to figure out the right way to ask her. But who was he kidding there was probably no right way to do it anyways. So throwing caution to the wind he took a short breath and quickly asked:

"You wanna talk about it?!" And with 'it' it was very clear what he meant and glancing over to Kensi and seeing how her relaxed facial muscles had tightened instantaneously he was also very sure that she knew what he had referred to with 'it'.

Shaking her head slowly and never once shifting her focus off of her TV a quiet "No." left her lips. Still looking at her to see any kind of reaction Deeks only reply was a quick "Mhh ok."

But when he couldn't detect the slightest change in her body language he tired to focus again on the TV show in front of him. Unfortunately that wasn't as easy as he would have like it to be.

He could still hear Astrid's voice inside of his head and saw the images of the evening chasing each other behind his eyes. He really wanted to know the answer. But maybe just like he had wondered in the morning there was no answer to Astrid's question. And if that was the case than what did this absence of an answer meant to the question itself. About that twisted thought he had to quietly snort unconsciously and lucky him it fitted to one of the scenes of the TV show in front of them so Kensi had no reason to ask why he had made such a funny sound.

As a child he had always believed that once he got older he will find answers to all of his questions but soon had to learn that with every answer he achieved to find at least two more new questions arose. And even though that phenomenon could get simply annoying at times it was probably also the quintessence of what kept life as intriguing as it was.

Glancing down to Monty he felt as slight pang of jealousy when he noticed that his beloved canine had managed to sneak his head on one of Kensi's thighs enjoying the soft caress of her hand right behind his left ear. Letting a content puff of air free now and then Monty had his eyes firmly shut and was probably off into the land of very inappropriate doggie dreams, he was Deeks dog after all.

After a while another show began and Deeks began to notice how he was slowly dozing off too. It had been a long day and with the rather restless night before his attention was wearing thin. When he caught himself the third time nodding off he stretched his tired muscles extensively.

Kensi argued with herself that his sudden movement caught her attention and not the little scratch of naked skin which was exposed by his hoisted shirt. But she failed miserably when her eyes were glued to the soft color.

"We should probably head home." Deeks yawned and patted Montie's back gently in order to wake his sleeping mutt. But just like he had understood what his master had said he nudged closer to Kensi's stomach and pretended he hadn't heard the request.

"Monty come on we've talked about this. No whining when it's time to leave. We have a busy day tomorrow!" Deeks schooled his dog like he was talking to a small child but the only response he got this time was a slight movement of Montie's ears as they smoothly lay upon the scruffy head clearly clarifying that he wasn't about to listen or move from his very comfortable spot.

"Really?!" came the slightly amused answer from Deeks which only got the lovely duo a snort like laugh by Kensi.

"You are not thinking of driving home are you?" she asked her partner and mentioned to the table in front of them.

"Not with the three and a half beers that you had." And her look was a tiny bit reproachful which Deeks answered with an innocent shrug of his shoulders … "Only fair princess you stole the better part of my milkshake."

"Yah and I still regret doing that." Kensi admitted and her face turned into a rather grossed out expression. "What was in there anyway? It tasted like a rather expensive nutrition counseling class blended into a disgusting smoothie." And to emphasize her reasoning she added a well rehearsed shudder. It wasn't the first time that Deek's choice of food was somewhat questionable healthy.

"And that from the woman who tried to suffocate me with her homemade smoothie." Deeks pointed out only to be greeted by one of her cheeky grins: "Ah the Woody. What pronounced delightfulness. But seriously you can't drive."

"Well I could always walk. I do have my personal rescue dog." Deeks half-heartedly argued since the only thing he really wanted to do right about now was to drop dead onto whatever horizontal surface he could find, preferably a bed, and sleep straight through the next 8 hours.

Said rescue dog still played deaf and so Kensi couldn't stop the good-natured chuckle.

"You guys could always stay here." She suggested and suddenly Montie's ears pricked up carefully.

Deeks face stayed indifferent for a moment before he scrunched his nose in a quizzical gesture. "Traitor! And you Kens do remember how me spending the night here ended last time?"

And indeed Kensi hadn't forgotten the week after her partner's sleepover and the constant whining about severe and life-long postural defects which he had suffered from her couch.

"Well we could share the bed." And with that said it was the third time of the day that he simply had to mistrust his hearing because Kensi couldn't just have seriously offered that.

"Excuse me?" he choose to clarify and absently started to stroke through Monty's scruffy fur right next to him to get his nervous fingers something to do.

"Gee it's not like it would be the first time." Kensi shrugged his expecting tune off and the same images of a way too huge two-story house and a rather interesting neighborhood flashed behind their eyes.

"Well if I remember correctly the better part of the first day was spent arguing about that exact topic with you having a few rather interesting reasons why it wouldn't raise any suspicion if we actually didn't share a bed." Another cheeky grin answered his somewhat replicable reasoning and also made him stop talking for a moment.

Further images of occasionally tangled bodies illuminated by the dusky morning light invaded his senses. He had figured out within the first few nights that sharing a bed with Kensi Marie Blye was a little like he assumes military survival training would look like. Dodging the casual assaults of flying body parts his main focus was to keep himself alive and not break his neck while he was shoved out of the bed. Usually it ended with a starfish imitating Kensi who sprawled her skinny body out in such an impressive way that it was nearly unbelievable how much space it could occupy. Deeks on the other hand usually had curled his lean length into a rather handy ball right wherever he had found some space.

And watching out for his physical integrity hadn't been his only concern. Because ending up with Kensi's arms and legs all over him he had caught his body reacting in the most inappropriate ways and not just the most obvious one. At some point he had stopped counting the times where one of his hands had found a soft piece of naked flesh and absently began to caress away.

Every time Kensi hadn't been a tossing and turning mess around him he could be sure that his hands had gone on another adventurous journey of discovery.

"Hey whenever you are done spacing off to whatever disturbing intermediate world you are thinking about right now, you are welcome to follow us and sleep in an actual bed. Otherwise there is a couch or you get comfortable on whatever concrete and free space you can find on the floor." With that said Kensi got up from her couch and a yawning Monty followed her hot on her heels.

Deeks had a wired impression of an old Tetris version on his mind when he looked around her messy floor and tried to envision how he could make himself fit between her scattered stacks of books, cartons and piles of clothes. Snapping back to attention he called after his dog.

"Come on Monty where does your loyalty lie?" he whined and dragged his body into an upright position. Catching one of her full smiles she answered impertinently … "Apparently not with you:" and closed the bedroom door behind her.

* * *

Author's note: Thanks so much for all the follow ups, favorites and lovely reviews. They are much appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Previously:_**

_"Hey whenever you are done spacing off to whatever disturbing intermediate world you are thinking about right now, you are welcome to follow us and sleep in an actual bed. Otherwise there is a couch or you get comfortable on whatever concrete and free space you can find on the floor." With that said Kensi got up from her couch and a yawning Monty followed her hot on her heels._

_Deeks had a wired impression of an old Tetris version on his mind when he looked around her messy floor and tried to envision how he could make himself fit between her scattered stacks of books, cartons and piles of clothes. Snapping back to attention he called after his dog._

_"Come on Monty where does your loyalty lie?" he whined and dragged his body into an upright position. Catching one of her full smiles she answered impertinently … "Apparently not with you:" and closed the bedroom door behind her._

* * *

Deeks bit his inner cheek to stop the smile forming on his lips and busied himself cleaning up the leftover mess of their dinner. Throwing the paper wraps into their designed basket he even rinsed the plates and dried them before putting them back in one of her cupboards. Turning around he switched the lights and the TV off before carefully considering what his next move should be. Standing in front of her closed bedroom door he contemplated his options.

Option one was to leave Monty behind, walk home, pick his canine up in the morning before surfing and spend another sleepless night, alone, in his bed. To be honest that didn't sound too appealing especially with it being quite a distance to his apartment that he would not only have to conquer right now but super early in the morning to fetch his dog and car before catching some waves.

This thought led him to another not unimportant fact in his decision making progress. Because waking a sleepy Kensi that early in the morning was like being on a suicide mission. And not one that was clean, simple and over in painless heartbeat but long, brutal and downright agonizing. That theory had been tested, repeatedly, and proven, also repeatedly and with many now thankfully faded bruises.

The first time he had chuckled when both Sam and Callen had refused to drive to Kensi's apartment to pick her up for an urgent case which had developed during the night. How a skinny girl like Kensi could scare off an ex Navy Seal and former spy used to be beyond him? But Deeks had learned quickly and despite the fact that it usually left some part of his torso in a much abused state he had never gotten tired of it. Still if a situation offered certain kinds of alternatives it usually was smart to at least consider them before deciding on anything.

Furthermore, leaving Monty with Kensi would set his educational efforts with his dog back for at least two months and that didn't even include his concerns about Monty dying of sugar poisoning in the morning, when he would do nothing more than sniff Kenis's breakfast. So with all of the reason combined the thought of leaving her place at the moment was totally out of the question.

Another option was to spend the night on her couch which would have been innocent enough. But before Deeks could even get used to the idea his spine protested violently. Ok agreed, that probably wasn't a real option from begin with, just as much as sleeping on the floor wasn't since his body didn't include the newest assets anymore with him having cracked the 30 years stage a while ago.

In the end the contemplating left Deeks with Kensi's invitation and what an intriguing one it was. Placing his hand on the door knob he paused one more time taking a reassuring breath and mentally accepting that this was an awful idea.

Turning the door knob and stepping in her bedroom he found Kensi bustling about with a toothbrush in her mouth. While she was engrossed in the task at hand she had obviously also begun to clean off books, magazines, clothes and other debris which had piled up on the left side of the bed.

"Wow." Deeks breathed out and couldn't help but smirk about the chaos he had walked into. His comment only earned him a rather hostile glare which he hardly noticed since he was way too busy checking out Kensi's naked legs while she was stretching out over the bed shoving things over the edge on the floor.

"Pretty convinced I have decided to stay, are we?" his voice cut through her hurricane like approach of clearing off the bed and her response was muffled by the toothbrush between her lips.

"Oh no Shaggy I am making some room for Monty." Kensi explained and patted the now vacant spot beside her on the bed. A furry whirl wind which didn't match the sleepy dog from moments before nearly knocked Deeks off of his feet when it jumped on the bed and curled in a scruffy ball of hair.

"Really Kens no wonder it always takes me like two weeks after he spends a night here to remind him that there is a certain difference between a bed for humans and those for dogs."

Kensi chose to ignore his half-hearted complain with a mumbled: "How would you know?" and went back to the bathroom to finish brushing her teeth. Deeks whereas called after her that he had heard her cheeky reply and started looking for her closet.

Having found it, unfortunately at the other side of the room, he began to make his way across without dripping on anything lethal. When he had accomplished his mission without any severe injury he opened the wooden door and began searching for a certain idem.

In the meantime Kensi had reentered the room and stopped dead in tracks on the threshold. "What are you doing?" she hissed threateningly and crossed her arms in a defensive move in front of her chest.

"Looking for something?" Deeks mumbled but didn't even bother to look up or acknowledge her slightly aggressive tune.

"What? A concussion?" and with that said Kensi took several steps towards her partner. The retort indeed had brought the desired effect and obviously her message across. Bewildered Deeks looked up at her since he had kneeled down at some point to search the lower drawer.

"Because this is what you will get in case you don't stop going through my underwear." explained Kensi but only received an innocent shrug of his shoulders before he went back to his task.

"Ah there you go. Found it." smiling triumphantly he held a familiar looking soft blue fabric in his hands.

"Put out of its misery my ass." He chirped in the most annoying way possible and unfolded the shirt he had retrieved from Kensi's closet only to lose the happy and arrogant expressions on his face right away when he noticed a hole that looked suspiciously like it was made by a bullet.

"Really?!" but his look of reproach only got him a smirk by Kensi and the exact same innocent shrug he had just thrown at her.

Turning around he disappeared in her bathroom, while Kensi got comfortable under the covers. Monty was snoring lightly by now and made no attempt to move any time soon.

Actually he had been Kensi's alibi for snatching Deek's shirt in the first place. Somehow and without her knowledge they had come to the agreement that whenever Deeks was busy with LAPD she would take his scruffy friend and look after him. All she wanted was for Monty to be comfortable at her place and she had thought that one of his shirts might help with that. Monty though didn't really mind. As long as he didn't miss out on his beach walk in the morning or his beloved breakfast which usually followed the walk he was a happy fellow and got easily attached to new people.

And so Kensi had ended up with a content dog who didn't really mind if his owner went AWOL for a few days and Deeks scent all around her bedroom. And while in the beginning she was slightly annoyed by the constant salty ocean smell she couldn't really make herself stop from taking a long and deep gulp of air whenever she started to miss him. Not that this ever had happened.

Despite his conviction she had never slept in it but maybe she had at one point slept next to it, of course only for Montie's sake. And maybe after Monty had left again she hadn't put the shirt back in her closet for days, weeks really but that could easily be blamed on her untidiness. Her place was a mess, always, and things got forgotten and eventually lost. No big deal.

When Deeks returned Kensi was figuring out the mess of her sheets. She was very sure it used to be two but she couldn't really find the beginning of the first and the ending of the second. Tucking another corner out from Monty she was left with 5 different ones.

"Need any help?" Deeks wanted to know while unbuckling the belt of his jeans.

"No I am fine." Kensi grumbled and tried to focus at the task at hand. Hearing the well worn fabric of his pants hitting the floor with a soft thud though nearly let her come undone. Giving up on untangling the sheets she took three corners of the cover and snuggled up in the attached material. Leaning back she couldn't stop herself from ogling his naked chest when he changed into his respectively her shirt.

"I could leave it off, you know." came a muffled voice through his shirt when he tried to squeeze his head through its designated opening.

"Ughh gross." Kensi pretended to have the dry heaves and watched amused how Deeks was still struggling with the shirt. Finally managing to get his head through the offending material Deeks looked doubtingly down his front. He either had gained like 20 pounds or …

"Kens did you by any chance washed this too hot?"

"Mhh!?" Kensi played the perfect ignoramus and actually appreciated the material stretching over his lean features.

Tugging at the edges Deeks tried to stretch the shirt back into a more comfortable shape but when he caught Kensi's silent snicker he stopped and turned towards Monty. Not even bothering to shoo away his scruffy mutt Deeks switched off the remaining lights and lay down on the free space he found next to Monty. Rolling onto his stomach he rested his head upon his folded arms and took a tired but content breath of air.

For a few moments everything was quiet and besides the soft snoring of Monty which actually was more like loud breathing he couldn't make out another sound. Feeling the soft and steady thuds of his heart against the mattress he was certain the rhythmical beat would put him to sleep easily.

Ignoring the slight shift of the surface he was laying on he nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt Kensi's slender hand putting the rest of the tangled sheet mess around his shoulders.

"Thanks." He breathed quietly and watched under his lashes when Kensi lay back down. Observing her features for a while he got stuck on her eyes which were just as closely watching him.

Monty, who was now buried under the sheets huffed a sound of protest before dragging his body to the end of the bed and sticking his nose from beneath the sheets. He settled back down and fell asleep immediately.

All the while Deeks hadn't stopped watching Kensi closely and she had answered his stare in kind. Out of the corner of his eyes his saw how she raised her right hand and knew before it happened what she was up to. Still when he felt the first soft brush of her fingers which stroked through his hair he couldn't help but tense up.

His eyes closed without his will and a shaky breath left his system. Suddenly the soft rhythmical beat of his heart had become frantic, unsteady even and the shudders which started right at the base of his skull chased their way all along his spine and were accompanied by a severe attack of goose bumps.

"You really do like them, don't you?" Deeks whispered and clung his fingers deep into the soft mattress under him to prevent them from doing something stupid.

"Shut up." Kensi murmured but kept running her fingers through his golden strands of hair.

"I am just saying." He smirked with his eyes firmly shut and slowly getting the response of his body somewhat under control so he could actually relish her caring gesture.

"Don't." came her silent reply before adding even quieter "Enjoying here!"

"Trust me you are not the only one." He kept on babbling because that was what he did. Babble away all the time and especially when he became nervous.

* * *

Author's Note:

I'd like to thank you guys for the support (followers, favorites, reviews) and a special thanks for my last guest review who really took some time and thought into it. Much appreciated and totally made my Tuesday this week. Thank you very much.


	4. Chapter 4

_All the while Deeks hadn't stopped watching Kensi closely and she had answered his stare in kind. Out of the corner of his eyes his saw how she raised her right hand and knew before it happened what she was up to. Still when he felt the first soft brush of her fingers which stroked through his hair he couldn't help but tense up._

_His eyes closed without his will and a shaky breath left his system. Suddenly the soft rhythmical beat of his heart had become frantic, unsteady even and the shudders which started right at the base of his skull chased their way all along his spine and were accompanied by a severe attack of goose bumps._

_"You really do like them, don't you?" Deeks whispered and clung his fingers deep into the soft mattress under him to prevent them from doing something stupid._

_"Shut up." Kensi murmured but kept running her fingers through his golden strands of hair._

_"I am just saying." He smirked with his eyes firmly shut and slowly getting the response of his body somewhat under control so he could actually relish her caring gesture._

_"Don't." came her silent reply before adding even quieter "Enjoying here!"_

_"Trust me you are not the only one." He kept on babbling because that was what he did. Babble away all the time and especially when he became nervous._

* * *

Still the next few minutes were spent in silence. Her strokes became long and lazy and Deeks knew it would only take a few more minutes before the events of the day finally caught up with them. But sleep was never able to claim him when he heard her soft voice mumble the response he had been looking for all day.

"I don't have an answer."

And she was aware that Deeks knew exactly what she meant so she didn't bother to explain her comment further but kept on talking.

"And I have no idea if that's good, bad or even matters at all."

"Certainly matters." Deeks interposed and opened his eyes again. But despite his believes or maybe even fears Kensi wasn't staring in the blank with a worried expression on her beautiful face and a tensed up body language. Her eyes were closed and her features showed a relaxed countenance.

"Do you have an idea?" she asked curiously and opened her eyes to see his reaction. But he only shook his head: "No not really."

Finally giving in to his desire though, he reached out and pulled her slim body closer to his. Turning onto his side he closed his eyes with a content sign and bedded his head back on his left arm for support. His right hand came to a soft rest upon her hip and he could feel through the fabric of his shirt her faint attempt of controlling her breath.

"And this it?" she whispered and sounded slightly uncertain. Maybe she wasn't sure if 'knowing' would be such a great idea in the first place since her heart was already jumping out off her chest.

"Well, … " Deeks began and took a quick pause before adding " … I liked what you were doing so please don't stop." He stressed the 'please' a little before closing his eyes again at the end of the sentence and waiting unstrung for her reply. After a few moments of silence he felt her now slightly cooler fingers sifting through his hair again and he let go of the breath he had unconsciously been holding.

"And we have all the time in the world to figure out the rest." His last sentence held so much strength and conviction that Kensi couldn't stop herself from believing in his words even though they were quite naïve with their choice of employment. But just like he had read her thoughts he added quietly: "I am not going anywhere."

Sneaking a few fingers under her shirt he began to draw slow circles on her lower back when he felt her now steady but shaky breath against his neck return. The shiver that followed and made her whole body tremble had not too much to do with his very bold fingers even though they certainly did not help the matter. No her body was losing it because of the nearly whispered words which had left his lips last.

After a while and with her still tensed up like the prey before its predator Deeks leaned slightly closer. Immediately the somewhat trembling strokes of her hand through his blond curls stopped along with the quiet but hasty sound of her breaths.

He couldn't help the smirk which stole its way on his lips when he mumbled one simple word in a hushed tone: "Relax." To emphasize his request the movement of his fingers on her lower back became slower and delicately soothing.

But the desired effect failed to appear. Quite the opposite actually happened when he heard the uneasy gasp of much needed air and felt another earthshaking shiver making her body vibrate under his fingertips. The reaction of her left no room for denial but he never expected Kensi to actual acknowledge the fact with another murmured word which left her lips: "Can't!"

Her response both verbal and physical morphed the smirk on his lips into a gentle and full blown smile before he came up with the most perfect idea to help Kensi loosen up.

"Fern, you really don't want me to go to Sam and Callen and brag about how you turned into a quivering badass, ninja mutant assassin mess in my arms because you simply couldn't resist the gloriousness of my body?" She could hear the teasing undertone in his voice and of course couldn't let him say such tremendous nonsense without the rightful retort especially since they were in her very own bed. So she tugged her right arm out from where it had been squeezed between their bodies and slugged him hard on the spot she had hit hours before.

Listening to him hiss in severe pain she settled back down in satisfaction and skidded even closer to his chest. With an easy smile she let her forehead come to rest on the patch of skin which was hidden under his shirt, right under his shoulder where she breathed a simple and quiet 'Thank you'.

She had figured his intensions right away when her muscles relaxed with the first drops of annoyance in her system upon hearing his ridiculous invention of a nick name and the feeling only got enhanced when his obsessive babble had turned into that cheeky impudence.

"And it's arm … not arms." Kensi couldn't help but point out. Still content with her new position she had no chance of seeing his features lit up in mischief sparked by her unintended challenge.

"Well that can be fixed." And with those words he turned on his back quickly and sneaked his before idle left hand around her hips as well. Well 'hips' was probably the wrong term since he could clearly make out the soft swell of her butt right under his forearm. But since he had felt quite bold all night long he didn't bother to move knowing fully well that if Kensi didn't want him there he would undoubtedly notice it rather quickly and with brute force.

Kensi though was way too astonished to even as so much form a thought. His bold move had knocked the breath right out of her and all she was focusing on right now was to keep herself stable on shaky arms right above his chest. Staring at him wide-eyed it took her sensatory system a moment to locate the daring positioning of his hand.

"You wanna move that!" her voice held an undeniable strength but her tune was really not threatening enough to give her request the strength it would need to whip the insolent expression off of his features.

He only shook his head in response and whispered a very certain: "Nope." with an even more daring popping sound to it before another smile broke free on his lips. He loved the fact that he could turn his usually stone cold fox like partner into a shivering, word tripping and panting mess with only a few well implemented diversionary tactics.

"You are enjoying this … " Kensi began to speak when Deeks interrupted her with another audacious interjection: "… immensely …" and the fitting smile. But Kensi choose to ignore him completely and simply finished her sentence with adding: "… way too much." which only got him to shake his head in a gentle motion and never erased the grin that had occupied his lips a long time ago.

Looking down from her still hoisted position she watched his amused eyes carefully and before she could voice another kind of protest she felt how the muscles of Deeks lower abdomen tensed up. Still preoccupied with the sensations those softly flexed but immensely strong muscles induced in her own body she never noticed how two soft lips stole any remaining objections from her.

A bewildered expression made itself at home on her face and she wondered for a moment what just happened. Had he just simply kissed her?! Quickly, softly without her having noticed it? Glancing down Kensi found her answer in his eyes and her breath quickened again.

"What was that?" she wanted to know but her voice had become hoarse and the blood which was pumped viciously through her veins by an abandonment heart let her only hear a dull brawl.

"Payback for your so called 'cover kiss'. Never had a say in it so far." He smirked contently and watched amused how Kensi tried to shake off whatever feeling he had vivified in her. Rolling her head from one side to another she closed her eyes and finally settled back down resting her head on his chest not really paying attention on what she was doing because her whole brain was focused on figuring out what had just transpired between the two of them. And since her body hadn't caught up on her attempts to calm down she didn't bother to hide the effects he was having on her.

After a while the slight change of his deep breathing put Kensi up on her guard and a second later she heard him whisper: "You liked it though." The intonation he used made it plain that his words had by no means been posed a question but rather a very firm statement. That hard fact instantaneously stimulated all of her defense mechanism and made her look up.

"Certainly not!" she grumbled in a low tune and accentuated her words with two of her nails sinking their way deep into the soft naked skin of his outer triceps. Feeling his muscle protest violently under the pain she was surprised to hear a cheery voice answer: "Certainly did."

"No." shaking her head to emphasis her words she knew she had already lost this battle but wasn't willingly giving in without a proper fight. There was still a war to win here.

"Sure did." And just to prove the accurateness of his utterance he let the tip of his thumb slip under the fleecy fabric of her very short shorts and received an affirmative shudder.

"No." Kensi repeated a bit quieter since she was still trying desperately to stop her body from losing control over and over because of him.

"The whimper gave you away:" he explained while his thumb had started to trace invisible circles high on her upper thigh. Whimper what whimper? Kensi couldn't remember whimpering at all nor would she ever admit to doing anything close to that because of him.

But Deeks wouldn't have been this adoringly annoying creature if he had been satisfied with such a subtle and delicate gesture of laying down her arms and so with another quick move he had pinned her down under him. A wolfish grin crowned his features when he leaned closer and felt how her already shallow breathing stopped expectantly: "That kind of whimper!" he breathed low with a rather serious and certainly intrigued tune to his voice before adding cheekily … "Just in case you were wondering." Satisfied with having made another avowedly smart point he hold himself steady above her and waited for her reaction.

In the meantime a rather annoyed grunt left the end of the bed and indicated that the grunt's owner wasn't too pleased with having been knocked over by the second pair of feet within 5 minutes. The shifting underground he was obviously laying on was something he could live with, not happily ever after but in a more or less content way. The rambling and bickering of his two most favorite people in the world was a bit disturbing but thanks to his weakened ability to hear properly and the option to put both of his paws over his head in an out blocking gesture still quite bearable.

What wasn't though, were the continuous kicks which raised him every time from his happy slumber in a rather unpleasant manner. Giving up on his comfy and warm spot between their legs Monty got up, stretched his sore muscles for a while before jumping off the bed and taking one of the sheets halfway down. Not being noticed by his now probably 'owners' per definition he nudged the door which Deeks had wisely hang ajar open and trotted to the couch. Jumping up he pressed his body close to the back rest and rolled up again in a tiny ball. After a while one of his paws slowly came to rest upon his head when the bickering in the other room wouldn't quit.

"Maybe it's a hunch!" a deep voice suggested and a giggle followed which surely couldn't have come from Kensi since she would never giggle in the first place: "A hunch?"

"Yes a hunch … on the question you know." came the further explanation from the deeper voice but Monty lost track of the conversation he couldn't understand in the first place when he was finally able to rekindle his dreamland of lady Poodles, Sheppard's, Terriers, Huskies, Corgis, Carlines, Beagles, Pinschers, Collies, Dalmatians, Setters, Pointers, Mastiffs, Rhodesian Ridgebacks … oh Ridgebacks and a world where he hadn't been neutered years ago.

* * *

Author's note: At the end I'd like to thank you guys for the support, the lovely reviews, the favorites and the followers on the last chapter. So as promised in the beginning I am going to put the characters back unharmed and leave them to it for a while. Thanks again you guys truly rock!


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